User Review: Mountain Hardwear Airjet 2

I read every review I could find on this tent before I bought one at REI in Phoenix. I was headed for a 4-night trip in Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. The problem was that even though it had been an extremely dry summer in the Estes Park area, the time of my trip (August 3-4) coincided with the heaviest rains of the season.

I arrived at my campsite at 3 p.m., just as it was starting to rain. I quickly set up the tent and sat in it for two hours until there was a break in the rain. I went to bed at 9 p.m., and it started to rain -- hard - - at 2 a.m. on August 4. It rained, and rained, and rained until 4 p.m. the next day. During that time, I spent almost all my time in the tent, waiting out the rain. Oh, and by the way, it was 42 degrees.

Summary -- During my time in the tent, it rained heavily, for a long time, and at cold temperatures (low 40s). This is the worst-case scenario for a single-walled tent. The condensation on the interior surfaces of the tent continually splashed off (from the impact of the rain) all over me, my sleeping bag, and the rest of my gear in the tent. While Mountain Hardwear has undoubtedly tried very hard to minimize this problem, it seems to me to be a fundamental problem of single-walled tents. While probably better than most in its class, it still falls far short of what I would consider acceptable. After 24 hours, I was soaked from the condensation splash.

This tent is largely responsible for cutting my trip from four nights to one. We hiked out the next day because I, and all my gear, was soaked. My brother, with a double-wall tent, was damp, but not wet. His condensation splashed from the rain fly to the canopy, making it damp, but didn't hit him or his gear.

If you plan to camp where there are warm temperatures and no rain, this tent may be for you. It's lighter than its double-walled colleagues, and sets up faster. However, when you need a tent the most - - in the rain -- this tent fares very poorly. I flew back to Phx and immediately returned it to REI. If you buy this tent and you're camping in temperatures less than 50 degrees, pray it doesn't rain for long -- you will be wet.